Customer Reviews

The Lonely Londoners

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The humour in this book makes it palatable. Otherwise the straitened circumstances of the characters would make you cry. The title sums it up. The post-war period in London was one of high immigration, with people re-settling due to the war, and due to the economic demands of Britain's economy for migrant workers. This is the story of a few of those migrants, concentrating mainly on the West Indian community, but also featuring a Polish woman. The story shows the daily lives of its characters, their difficulties in finding accommodation, the racism and fear they faced, and the rare examples of friendship from the quasi-indigenous population. The book is an easy read, and short enough never to become tiresome. Selvon occasionally sacrifices narrative consistency to make a few points, and this detracted slightly from my enjoyment of the book. On the whole, though, this comes highly recommended.

"The Lonely Londoners" is my favorite book of all time! With this purchase, I would have bought a total of five(5) copies. The other four however, have gone to the "loaned-a-friend-and-never-got-it-back" graveyard in the sky.

Selvon's account of West Indian immigramt life in 50's/60's London is riveting, poignant and tearfully funny. With realism and timeliness, he captures the unique brotherhood of survival that was the lifeblood of the network that sprung up in Brixton.

Wait until you meet "Tall Boy" as he greets his family at the boat train at Paddington. "All of we come...!"

Selvon's Lonely Londoners is second to none.

The author is intimitate with life, his characters, and immerses the reader in the "blackness" of a white, foggy London, facing Moses, Sir Galahad, Big City, Tanty and Cap.

This book, by a Trinidadian, is definitely the best I have ever read!

Lyndon Baptiste

Author of Boy Days

The novel captures the cadence of West Indian speech, view of the world, and our initial contact with England in the 1950. The stories appear funny, and they are, but underneath there are vivid descriptions of the hardship and the bewilderment that faced poor immigrants unaccustomed to vivid racism, cold weather, and homesickness. The survival of the characters makes the novel and gem. You will never look at the pidgeons in Trafalgar Sq. the same way!

This is Selvon's best work. It explores the lives of a group of West Indians mainly Trinidadians and Jamaicans who leave the Caribbean to live in London. They came looking for a better life and what they found was bitter coldness both from the unforgiveable winters and the cold prejudice of the people they encounter.
They experience hunger and hopelessness, discrimination for jobs and on the job but they are able to survive.
It tells much about the spirit of the West Indian abroad.
I would recommend this book to anyone who both want to learn more about West Indian people and who enjoy a good laugh.
It is Selvon at his best.

Lonely Londoners is a short and engaging story about the lives of immigrants(west Indians)in London during post world war II. I loved the reading because it effortlessly brings every aspect of the immigrants' experience to life- the racism, poverty, and the exploitation of colored people during the times. This book is not only for immigrants though. It is for anyone who ever asked-'what is the point of living when it is so haard?' That is a universal sentiment that Selvon explores through the struggles of immigrants and their aimless quests that often end no where. In between all that drama we also get impeccable story telling that is a laugh riot sometimes and others a tear jerker. A must read for everyone!

Only two books that I really could not put down (porn not included), 'White Merc with Two Fins' (the New York Times slagged it off, which is a good sign as any) and this Lonely Londoners. It's real, real Bitter Sweet - as in, yes Life is Hard, especially for non white immigrants coming to racist England (their "mother country") - a country lacking any decent Legal Constitution like the US (you guys really don't know how lucky you are!). My friend after reading it said, he understands why Morrisey could not happen in the Caribbean, meaning to dwell on hard times without using humour as a defense is gray like London's skies. The bitter sweet attitude of Sam's posse is an Island attitude that keeps us on the level. So how do these island boys, rural boys, handle the city....just read. There are two episodes of the book I can mention without giving anything away - look for the 10 page creole monologue about London at night and the sexual encounter between the Colonial island boy (could have been my dad!) and the Colonizer - white woman. Dammmm.... Once You Have Read IT, know this - there are 2 more books in the series.

Only two books that I really could not put down (porn not included), 'White Merc with Two Fins' (the New York Times slagged it off, which is a good sign as any) and this Lonely Londoners. It's real, real Bitter Sweet - as in, yes Life is Hard, especially for non white immigrants coming to racist England (their "mother country") - a country lacking any decent Legal Constitution like the US (you guys really don't know how lucky you are!). So how do these island boys, rural boys, handle the city....just read. There are two episodes of the book I can mention without giving anything away - look for the 10 page creole monologue about London at night and the sexual encounter between the Colonial island boy (could have been my dad!) and the Colonizer - white woman. Dammmm.... Once You Have Read IT, know this - there are 2 more books in the series.

IN an era of teaching multiculturalism, this book by Sam Selvon is a pioneer and a work of genius and heartbreaking accomplishment. It's about the West Indian community in London after the massive immigrations but before the riots of the 1960s. Told in a kind of pigeon patois, this book is part picaresque, part travelogue, all the way funny and dark and lyrical and beautiful.

The characters are all flawed, but that makes them real and great. You do get a sense of the loneliness the characters feel and how they individually cope with it. You'll enjoy reading about the Londoner's and their individual stories.